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Philo Logo
Live TV & on-demand with unlimited recording.
8 / 10  Review Rating

Philo has become a real innovator in the world of television streaming by doing something simple: cutting out the most expensive cable channels. Philo’s approach leaves us without certain types of networks, but it also results in the leanest, cheapest live TV streaming option on the market — one that costs just $25 per month. In this Philo review, I’ll take a deep dive into the skinniest of the live TV streaming services.

Pros and Cons of Philo

Pros

  • Most affordable live TV option
  • Includes most familiar and popular TV channels
  • Unlimited cloud DVR

Cons

  • No sports channels
  • No local channels
  • Very limited news selection

5 Reasons to Choose Philo

  1. You want the cheapest live TV streaming option.
  2. You want live TV, but don’t care about sports.
  3. You already have an antenna for sports and local news, but want cable channels for movies and TV shows.
  4. You want to stream on multiple devices, including mobile devices.
  5. You’re sick of paying for cable!

What You Can Watch on Philo

Like all streaming services, Philo is designed to replace many of the live TV channels that cord-cutters lose when they cancel cable or satellite (though it's not designed to replace every last one of them, as we'll talk about in a moment). Philo is a “multichannel” service, so — like cable — it gives you access to multiple live TV networks that you can surf between, make DVR recordings from, and so on.

When it comes to movie channels, reality TV networks, and other general entertainment outlets, Philo's channel lineup is really impressive. Philo's channel bundle includes a wealth of channels, including AMC, Comedy Central, The Hallmark Channel, HGTV, IFC, and many more well-known cable TV staples.

Add-ons make premium channels like STARZ and MGM Plus available, too. Philo's channel list changes from time to time, but it has always been pretty impressive when it comes to movies, sitcoms, dramas, reality TV, and other straightforward forms of TV programming.

But part of what makes Philo unique is what it doesn't have. Philo offers very low prices, and the reason it's able to do so is that it omits certain channels. Philo takes the classic pay-TV bundle and deliberately carves out the channels that contribute the most to high cable bills — namely, sports channels and local affiliates of the major networks.

As a result, Philo is lacking precisely these things. You won't find ESPN or any other big sports networks here — in fact, you won't even find non-sports channels that air sports occasionally, like TBS or TNT. Philo is also missing the major networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) and their local affiliates, so don't expect to find your local action news team on this streaming service. Philo has also been careful about adding news channels, though the selection of those has improved quite a bit since we first reviewed Philo many years ago. You won't be able to stream CNN or watch Fox News with Philo, but you will see at least a little bit of news thanks to the welcome (and relatively recent) addition of BBC World News.

Philo Fire TV Guide
Philo Fire TV Guide

How much these omissions bother you will depend on what you like to watch. For a big sports fan like me, Philo felt like it was missing a lot: When I'm looking for live TV options as a cord cutter, it's usually because I'm trying to find a way to stream baseball. Since Philo didn't have my team's local regional sports network and was also missing ESPN, TBS, Fox, FS1, MLB Network, and the rest of my go-to channels for baseball, I didn't always feel like I was watching what I really wanted to. On the other hand, I do enjoy relaxing with a home improvement or DIY show, so I loved being able to surf between HGTV and DIY Network.

Your mileage may vary, of course. If you're a sports fan like me, Philo's trade-off might feel like a deal with the devil. But if you could take or leave channels like ESPN and CNN — or if you’re able to shore up those areas with other options, like an ESPN Plus subscription or an over-the-air TV antenna — then you might be overjoyed to see Philo's impressive lineup of entertainment channels available without the pricey sports and news networks holding them back.

If the type of content is your cup of tea, you'll have plenty to watch: All told, Philo has more than 70 channels on offer at the time of this writing. It also has an on-demand library populated with recently aired TV from the many networks included in its bundle. If you miss a show, there's a good chance you can just catch it on-demand shortly after it airs. You can make sure of this by digitally “recording” the program with the cloud DVR — which, in Philo's take on the DVR, pretty much just saves on-demand content to a watchlist.

How It Felt to Use Philo

Using Philo on a Fire TV Stick
Using Philo on a Fire TV Stick

Right off the bat, Philo felt a little different to me than other live TV streaming services that I've tried. Like most of its competitors, Philo offers a free trial. Unlike most of its competitors, though, Philo didn't necessarily need my credit card information — not right away, anyway. You can watch Philo for free for a week using the free trial, and you don't have to enter any payment information for the first 48 hours of that period. An important note: This 48-hour grace period only applies if you sign up for Philo using a phone number. If you use an email address, you'll have to provide your payment information from the start.

Philo’s Sign-Up Process

I elected to sign up via email. Philo emailed a code to the address I provided, and then I entered that code to start watching in my browser. That same process repeated whenever I activated one of Philo's apps — I never had to worry about a password. I found this pretty convenient, but you may decide that you'd rather use a phone number (if you do that, Philo will text the login code each time instead of emailing it).

Philo - iOS - login process
Philo – iOS – login process

Either way, Philo is easy to log into and doesn't require you to create any new passwords. The flip side of this is that you'll have to OK each new login to your account — you can't just give a family member or friend your password and let them log in on their own.

Philo Channel Guide
Philo Channel Guide

Philo’s User Experience and App Design

Philo's user experience was pretty straightforward. Like most great live TV streaming services, Philo divides its app up into sections. The “Home” screen offers a few trending live programs before diving into lots of recommended on-demand content. The “Guide” screen hosts a familiar-looking TV guide menu that makes it easy to select a live channel. I could find my recordings and favorites under the “Saved” tab, and there was a “Search” option as well.

Philo Content
Philo Content

It was also easy to find shows by genre or category. I liked scrolling through the home tab as I decided what to watch — though this tended to send me to on-demand content rather than live TV. When I felt like channel-surfing, I headed to the TV guide screen instead — just like with other live TV streaming services I’ve reviewed, I found that TV guide was one of my favorite ways to find something to watch.

Philo’s ‘Unlimited DVR'

Philo also comes with an “unlimited DVR.” Philo's DVR option essentially saves all available episodes of the series you choose (unlike with a traditional DVR, you don’t have to wait for them to air again as reruns). The unlimited DVR feature also adds all future new episodes to your library of saved content.

Philo - Saving a show to the DVR
Philo – Saving a show to the DVR

Using the DVR feature was simple, though it does feel a bit different from the typical DVR experience. There was no limit to how much I could “record,” but my saved programs only stuck around for 30 days. I would have preferred a more straightforward (and more DVR-like) DVR, but Philo's watchlist-like option works just as well in most cases.

Philo Streaming Quality

I didn’t have any trouble streaming Philo in my extensive trials. The service worked just fine on Roku and Fire TV, as well as on iOS and in my browser.

Resolution Framerate
Live TV content 720p 30 FPS
On-demand content 1080p 30 FPS

Philo’s streams may have been smooth, but the quality didn’t quite blow me away. Philo tops out at 30 frames per second. That number refers to the number of images that Philo flashes up on your screen per second. As you can probably imagine, lots of speedy frames make for smoother viewing. (Just imagine a flipbook: If you tore out every third page, it would look “choppier” — that’s what a lower framerate is like, though the effect is a bit more subtle.) Philo’s rate of 30 FPS is only about half of what we’re used to from some other live TV streaming services. This isn’t the end of the world — a 30 FPS stream is still perfectly watchable, and the sports content that suffered most from lower frame rates isn’t available on Philo anyway — but it’s still an area where I would have liked to see Philo step it up a bit.

Philo’s live streaming content streams at 720p HD (this measurement means how high the resolution of the image on the screen is — it’s about how sharp it is, not how quickly it flips from frame to frame). With on-demand content, quality goes up to 1080p. Both of these numbers are very typical for live TV streaming services, so I can’t fault Philo here. A little 4K UHD content would have been nice, but I don’t consider that a must-have for services like these.

Philo Profile
Philo Profile

More About Philo’s Features

Philo’s features aren’t overwhelming, but they’re strong and include pretty much everything I was looking for. I was able to create multiple user accounts within my main account, and I could rename those accounts and choose from a few profile image options (I chose a little tree icon that I thought looked neat). I could stream on up to three devices at once.

Philo DVR
Philo DVR

Philo also includes the unlimited DVR feature that I mentioned earlier. Since this is an online (“cloud”) DVR, it doesn’t really “record” anything. To me, it felt more like using a watchlist or “bookmark” feature than using a DVR, though I didn’t think that was necessarily a bad thing.

Philo Platform Support

Philo offers apps for all the major devices and platforms that we recommend. I had the option of using Philo on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, Android TV, Apple TV, iOS, and Android. I could also use it on Mac or PC through the in-browser app — which, I was happy to see, works not only on Chrome and Safari but also on Firefox and Microsoft Edge.

This is a very solid platform support lineup. Other than certain smart TV platforms, Philo has the full lineup covered here. And if you’re using one of the devices and platforms that we recommend here on the site, you’re 100 percent going to be able to use Philo.

Philo on Roku
Philo on Roku

Philo offers a pretty consistent experience across all of these platforms. For this review, I tested Philo on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, iOS, and two browsers (Chrome and Firefox). Based on my experience, I think that Philo works great on every platform.

Philo Value

At long last, we have reached the part of this Philo review where we discuss pricing. And I have some good news for you: Philo is a really, really cheap way to watch TV without cable.

There’s only one main Philo subscription, so we don’t have to worry about any price tiers — just a simple price tag of $25 per month, with the option to splurge on a couple of add-ons for a few extra bucks. (MGM Plus is an extra $6 per month, and STARZ is an extra $9 per month.) The service has increased its price over the years (at launch it was just $15 per month), but that’s not at all unusual for a live TV streaming service. Most of Philo’s competitors, including fuboTV, have raised prices by larger margins — and they were also more expensive than Philo in the first place!

That $25-per-month price is extraordinarily low for a live TV streaming service. Only Sling TV comes close. Most other live TV streaming services cost about $60 per month.

Of course, there’s a reason that Philo is so cheap: It’s missing sports, news, and local channels. Those are the most expensive channels for pay-TV services to carry, so Philo cuts them out and passes the savings on to you.

Philo Homescreen
Philo Homescreen

So is Philo a good value? In my view, absolutely: You simply can’t get a live TV experience this cheap anywhere else.

This isn’t to say that Philo is the right deal for you specifically, though. Like anything else in life, value is in the eye of the beholder. If you don’t like sushi, you probably won’t care how cheap the lunch specials at the local sushi place get — no matter how good the deal is, you’re just not in the market for sushi! As a huge sports fan, that’s how I felt about Philo: Without sports, it just didn’t make sense for me to stay subscribed. But if I’m being objective, I can imagine what Philo would look like to a non-sports fan — and boy, oh boy would it look good. If this is what you’re looking for, then this is an absolute steal.

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Philo Review: Our Verdict

Philo sets out to do something special — something a little different from what our other favorite live TV streaming services do. By skipping sports, news, and local networks, Philo is able to keep prices low on all of the other sorts of channels that pay TV services can offer: movie channels, reality TV networks, and so on.

After testing Philo extensively, I think it’s fair to say that this service nailed it. It’s exactly what it set out to be: a super cheap live TV streaming service that makes it easy to watch your favorite entertainment channels on whatever device you like to stream on.

Philo does a great job of delivering on its promise, but that promise will only appeal to some viewers. Personally, I found I missed sports a lot and news a little bit; for others, it might be the lack of local networks that is most frustrating. If you crave this sort of content, then Philo can’t help you — that’s just not what Philo is for.

But that’s OK: Philo is for something else. And, again, Philo delivers that something else with gusto. If you want a service that lets you flip through channels like AMC, HGTV, and VH1 (and if you don’t care about skipping ESPN and CNN), then Philo is going to give you more value for your money than any other live TV streaming service on the market.

61 thoughts on “Philo Review: Channels, Features, and More

  1. Manda says:

    IMO, the value of Philo is that it includes several channels that other services stick on higher tiers like BBC News, Science, and Sundance — plus the Viacoms which are increasingly tricky to get — for just $16. If Spectrum hadn’t just lured me back with a deal, a pairing of Philo + Hulu Live would be pretty much perfect for me.

  2. John Helms says:

    I attempted to give it a try and ran into the phone requirement for sign up. I called their tech support for a way around that. They said they could not do it at this time. I said thanks but NO THANKS. Until they get rid of that BS I’m not interested.

  3. Michael Herzog says:

    These used a phone number login to prevent one person using the service multiple times for free.

    1. Trump says:

      They are using scam techniques right out of the box. Use your credit card info and dump your phone number in a “Spam Warehouse”. I started getting calls from every scam and spammer on earth! Plus I cancelled after 48 hours but they charged 120.00 on my card anyway!! It took me 4 months to force them to return my money. Scamming bunch of crooks with nothing to offer so they try to steal it!!!

      1. Parfaria Holman says:

        WoW 😳
        I hope philo is not doing this to their customers.
        I have noticed every since I signed up with them I have receiving recorded scam calls like crazy and I can’t rest for them. Also, blocking them does no good this is truly harassment and bad business if it keeps happening I may have to cancel, I never had these type of problems with sling TV.

        1. caregiver says:

          I went to amazon online and ordered a robo call blocker and it is amazing when a call comes in I just push the big red button and it stops the call and if I block someone I do know I can unblock them so far I have 40 blocked calls and my phone has stopped ringing all day and night and it was not expensive well worth buying I LOVE IT!!

  4. Marsha D. says:

    I have had Philo for at least a week and I am very happy with it. I get the channels I want without all that extra junk like news and sports. If you are holding out because of the phone number, don’t. They haven’t called or text me as of yet. I will be keeping Philo for as long as it is around, or until they ruin it by adding sports.

    1. Parfaria Holman says:

      I agree, but I wish they will add on FX and Bravo network

      1. joe says:

        get youtube tv and philo and only pay 70 dollars a month—-cheap

        1. Andrew Blankenship says:

          Not anymore.

  5. Ted LeJeune says:

    I signed up on Monday the fourth after a breakup with PSV. After entering my favorites it has been viewing as usual plus a bonus of saving $25 per month. I use TiVo OTA for locals and Philo for the rest. The UI is more than adequate. I can quickly find what I want. The stream quality here in Hawaii is exceptional. No drops, buffering or downgrades. I hope that does not change after it catches on. For now this is a great fit. A discounted HBO add-on would be icing.

  6. Brice Holtzclaw says:

    I began subscribing to Philo because I was sick and tired of supporting the ever expanding sports industry and networks that push political ideologies that are an affront to my personal beliefs. The cheap package contains most of the channels I have always watched, and I supplement that with Netflix and Amazon. So far I am very happy with the service. I don’t care about the cost.

  7. Roy Pierce says:

    I have just tried Philo and I am very impressed with the quality of this streaming service on my Roku. The DVR is a great plus also. The only con for me is the lack of a news channel like CNN or MSNBC. If this bundle also included the Hallmark Channel and TBS this would be a definite winner.

  8. Johnny B. Good says:

    Was an early adapter with DirecTV Now. Had over a 100 channels for $35 a month. Buffering, freezing, sometimes just loose everything, black screen… very frustrating. Finally just dropped it. I’m very happy with Philo. The nicest DVR system, unlimited storage space. Shows over 30 days old are deleted. And best of all no buffering, freezing, etc.

  9. Victoria says:

    I’ve tried many streaming services. I love PlayStation Vue, but it was expensive. Philo has most of the stuff I watch and the rest I use Hulu, Netflix, and I’m even an Amazon Prime Member. Don’t miss Comcast, sports, or news at all. But I do have an antenna if I need to see some news.

  10. Dillon M. says:

    I’m about to sign up for Philo. I just loaded it to my Roku Express app list. I basically just wanted a way to watch Investigation Discovery, my longtime favorite cable channel, which Philo carries. Philo also appeals to me because I DON’T need sports. So to find a live TV service with a line-up where I don’t have to go through countless sports channels and countless news channels and countless other total crap channels, makes Philo a PERFECT fit for me.

    1. DJ True says:

      I guessing you regretted that decision by now lol

  11. Dianna says:

    I love Philo. ID, Lifetime & Lifetime Movies and the Nickelodeon channels for the grandkids are my favorite. I supplement with the basic traditional Hulu subscription for $7.99 a month. Get news from free Roku channels like CBSN 24/7 news streaming, free Roku movie channel and an abundance of other free channels for me and grandkids on Roku. Philo was all I needed. Love it!

  12. Jennifer says:

    I am not a fan of sports, and I am done with cable. I don’t even have Roku, and am happy watching any cable at all on my tablet for the mere $16, but I guess I’m just low maintenance like that!

    1. Deborah says:

      Who do you use on your tablet

  13. Jene says:

    Love Philo and its price is so reasonable. Dropped Sling as it did not have my Discovery Channel which Philo does along with History and HGTV, DIY, etc. More than I have time to watch. Would like National Geographic, but can get most of them on Hulu.

  14. Alyce Coleman says:

    It don’t stay on the program that you are watching. You can’t get the same program back when it ✂ off.

  15. Bullet says:

    Don’t care about most TV sports and don’t need the two political teem cheerleading crap.
    Philo has AXS and Velocity. Anything else is bells and whistles.

  16. annette cooper says:

    do you get hallmark on this

    1. Stephen Lovely says:

      You do! The Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Drama, and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries are all included in both of Philo’s bundles.

  17. Cathy says:

    We gave up cable years ago and use an antenna for local channels. Hulu, Netflix, Amazon have been terrific. Tried Sling TV for several months and really enjoyed Hallmark channels. Sling started raising prices and charging for DVR. Felt they were letting their price creap like cable. A month ago I decided to give Philo a try. It’s just the right fit. Don’t miss the sports or the news propagandists. Philo is perfect.

  18. Annie says:

    Much better than Hulu’s live tv and much better price. Many channels and they aren’t commercial crazy like Hulu’s Live TV. I am very impressed with Philo! After trying Hulu and Sling, the choice was hands-down Philo!!

  19. Synthia Pugmire says:

    I had a 7 day free trial Wich when I didn’t understand why the movies wouldn’t play why I couldn’t rewatch a movie right away.. or at all..or why the fantastic5 stopped in the middle of the movie.so they explained then revoked access to everything unless I d give them my credit card numbers Wich was absolutely not required to receive the free trial bc I was allready started it so I got 2 days of 7 and they keep heckling me in my messages to enjoy the rest if my free trial Wich they revoked access to..very rude..it’s ok to start the free trial if I don’t have a credit card but no I can’t have access suddenly bc I’m not understanding why I can’t rewatch the movie or finish watching a movie or have access to advertised movies.way to avenge yourselves.wow..id assume that’s disrespectful and unprofessional and even if I had money oozing I don’t like this company bc they were rude and disrespectful

  20. JodiBell says:

    I’ve had philo for over a year …it was great at first BUT now there are so many advertisements…I was just watching a movie and only about 30 min into it there were already 5 advertisements and the last one ended and I didn’t even get back into the movie within 2 mins yep another advertisements… I understand some but come on when your paying for it …your not paying to watch commercials…there are many FREE sites and the reason they are free is because they have so many advertisements…I think it’s about time to switch …pay hard earned money to watch advertisements or free sites with advertisements …it’s a no brainer ..Free tv here I come…

    1. DJ True says:

      “your not paying to watch commercials”
      YES, YOU ARE! smh

      1. Uncommonsensesc says:

        No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t mean I should be forced to watch them regardless of whether I “pay” for them or not. I realize companies need to have a good (aka large) source of income and if their streaming package is cheap, that money has to come from somewhere. But when I’m forced to watch more commercial time than show time, that’s when I’ll look around to find better offers with DVR service where I can skip the commercials. Philo used to be better and have lots of shows on DVR service instead of VOD but now they’ve started turning the majority of their shows into VOD. You’ll watch 3 minutes of show then 5 minutes of commercials even on old shows (we used to like to watch Renovation Realities). I am starting to look around for another option. I did like Philo because I don’t want the sports and don’t want to pay for them (I cancelled with DirecTv because they decided we needed to pay a $6 Regional Sports Network charge each month).

  21. Richard Aycock says:

    Hey Cordcutting…Do you have any information or a possible upcoming review of a new and VERY skinny streaming network ( as in 12 channels ) by a company called Frndly ? I found the listing while surfing on my ROKU app menu.
    This service supposedly starts at $5.99 with an unlimited cloud DVR and ALL 3 Hallmark channels. If you have any ”hands-on” with Frndly, please let me have your opinion of how this fairly new service is doing. Thanks….

    Richard

  22. DJ True says:

    The fact that anyone would like this service, speaks to how dumb we are as a society. You can’t get much greedier than these guys. It’s a classic example of double dipping that unfortunately has become far too common. It’s become so much the norm to see an advertisement on a service you are paying for, that most people don’t even realize they are paying twice (never mind fishing). But what makes Philo the absolute worse offenders is the amount of commercials they air. We’re talking 2 1/2 mins for even 5 mins of programming! Quite egregious in my opinion and yet some peoplestill pay to watch it (sigh)

  23. DJ True says:

    The fact that anyone would like this service, speaks to how dumb we are as a society. You can’t get much greedier than these guys. It’s a classic example of double dipping that unfortunately has become far too common. It’s become so much the norm to see an advertisement on a service you are paying for, that most people don’t even realize they are paying twice (never mind fishing). But what makes Philo the absolute worse offenders is the amount of commercials they air. We’re talking 2 1/2 mins of commercials (I timed it) for every 5 mins of programming! Quite egregious in my opinion and yet some peoplestill pay to watch it (sigh)

  24. Brad says:

    I have a smart TV, yet Philo doesn’t show up as an option to watch. So I need to buy something to have it show up? Help, I’m tech illiterate…

    1. Stephen Lovely says:

      Hi Brad, thanks for reading! You’ll need the Philo app to watch Philo. The app is available for some platforms, but not all. Depending on what smart TV you have, you may not be able to get it. Look for it in your smart TV’s app store — if it’s not there, you could try getting a Roku or a different streaming device to hook up to your TV.

  25. H Myers says:

    You state…”With live TV and on-demand content alike, Philo snaps into 1080p HD quality quickly…yet on their website it says 720p for live shows…big difference.

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